Whether your at the beginning of planning your very own wedding adventure or your almost ready but need a few final pointers…
The following information will hopefully extinguish some of the worry & smooth out a few of the kinks.

Now of course I’m NOT a wedding planner, I’m a photographer BUT having photographed over 500 weddings around the globe & across the span of the last 13 years, I’ve picked up a tip or two that I’d love to share with you ahead of your big day. Feel free to get back to me with an abundance of questions – I’m always happy to answer anything…

Its not easy starting from scratch especially when your looking at the WHOLE process ahead of you. Like any complicated procedure with many moving parts its best to write it all down & just work on each little section at a time. Presuming you’ve left enough time to do this of course. ie. around 6 months to 2 years.

FINDING YOUR PERFECT VENUE

Its a really good idea before you get started down the road of supplier searches & venue recce’s to give yourself a theme. It will help you in your endless Google searches if you nail the theme & colour styles first off, before you go ahead & narrow down the details.

A FEW OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER UP FRONT ARE:

• Do you want to incorporate a church ceremony or do you want everything in one place to save on travel arrangements?

• Do you want the venue to have accommodation on site, so elderly relatives can get some rest easily?

• Is it important that your venue has its own caterers? Or do you have a company in mind that you’d like to use?

• Does the venue have a large ‘corkage’ charge?

• What if it rains? Does the venue have equally as nice indoor spaces?

• How do you & your friends like to party? Are you happiest at a festival or will there be a lot of people in stiletto heels?

• Do you have many elderly people coming? Will they be warm enough, able to sit down or climb all the steps?

When you’ve narrowed down a few themes & idea’s you’ll find your to-do list a lot easier to cope with. Think about what suits both your personalities & most importantly what makes you happy. Once you’ve chosen & refined your vision you’ll have something solid & tangible to show your planner, florist or stylist. Start collating idea’s on a Pinterest board. Buy a beautiful planning journal or box to store magazine cut outs & notes in. Anything that you can to help either in your choice of suppliers or to pass your vision on to others to help your dream come true.

FROM HERE YOU CAN SECURE THE PERFECT DATE

Try not to start off with an exact date in mind as your favourite venue may not be available. You’ll be setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead have a general month/year in mind & leave your options open.

TIME LINE

You may have booked your wedding date well in advance but there are still a couple of things to do up front before leaving the rest to your ‘final countdown’ year. Use the chart below just as a ROUGH GUIDE, your wedding planner & venue will advise you in more detail about the exact timings of when they need you for things.

One thing that is certain though is when to book your photographer. We can get booked up 2 or even 3 years in advance so best get your favourite secured straight after you confirm your date & venue. Be sure to ask your venue for a list of their recommended suppliers. Its a great idea to use florists & venue stylists that know the space they need to dress & the delivery points etc.

You should definitely ask your chosen photographer for recommendations of videographer’s. These suppliers will literally be in each others pockets all day so its always a good idea to get teams that have worked well together before.

This is just a bit of the information I share in my latest WEDDING PLANNING GUIDE where I’ve hopefully answered a lot of your most pressing questions. Send me a message on my contact form, tell me a bit about yourselves and I’ll send you back a FREE copy of my new planning guide.